The coolest bike racks ever made

Locking and leaving your bike can sometimes feel a bit like abandoning it in the vague hope it will still be there on your return. Drab, old fashioned style bike racks littered with ‘bits of bike’ often do little to inspire confidence..

(Image: www.boweryboogie.com)

Of course, what we’d all love is a modern, attractive but strong looking alternative that both makes thieves feel the bike is in a well cared for area, where cyclists are a priority, and fills the owner with a bit more confidence.

We were really impressed when we first saw the video of Japan’s new and amazing bike racks. If you’ve not seen it yet, you should – so here it is:

We aren’t expecting these to pop up in London any time soon – but here are a couple of racks we might like to see in the city..

Bright, colourful – and as strong as your bike’s frame! We love this rainbow approach…

(Image: keretterek.wordpress.com/)

We found a host of ideas from hbdesigns.co.uk – they’re all about creating infrastructure for sport, and they’ve got creations for adults…

And littleuns… we reckon a great design could well get the kids more likely to want to pedal to school..

Alternatively, we could always theme our bike racks around the local surroundings, or the building they serve – maybe even a swimmer shaped rack outside the local pool, alongside this library themed creation..

Image: bellevilleonbikes.ca

Taking a bit of design inspiration from one of the World’s favourite post-ride-recovery foods, this rack certainly stood out to us…

Image: toxel.com

Whilst other designers have found ways of making the bike rack have more than one use, though we imagine this bench/rack might become less useful as more steeds were locked up:

Image: toxel.com

Of course, if you really cannot bear to leave the bike whilst you are at work…

A simple “Sheffield stand” , the staple shaped pipe, is all that is needed. Plenty of space and secure for just about all bike types. Many of the above are “wheelbenders” that nobody would use. Form over function and basically a waste of money. Do we have “funky” parking spaces ?

Clearly designed for appearance rather than security. I would never rely on securing my bike by anchoring the front wheel only. It’s hard to beat an inverted ‘U” to which you can attach wheel AND frame. Simple, practical and not necessarily arty farty.